New to photography? Read this.

Thug

Your welcome, its a pleasure. I enjoyed doing it.

I am thinking about tips 3 still, i haven't forgot, just been busy with decorating.

gibbsy

Hyperfocal Point and Depth of Field

                                                                                                                                               

Everyone has heard of depth of field, but how many also understand what the hyperfocal point is. Depth of field is fairly easy to understand, f/16 will give a far greater depth to the image where objects focused on will remain sharp than that taken at f/2. So take a shot of a tulip head at f/2 and focus on the nearest petal and just the one petal will be in sharp focus, the rest of the head will appear blurred. At f/16 the whole head and some of the background will appear sharp.

Easy, want to take a good landscape then just put the lens at f/16 and away to go. Well not quite and why f/16. First let me explain why I have mentioned f/16. I take a lot of landscapes and I employ the hyperfocal point in composing my shots. My camera is always in aperture priority and set to f/16 and every shot is tripod mounted. With each lens I know where the hyperfocal point is. It is also in the sweet zone of all of my lenses. Hyperfocal is important to me because I take quite wide angles and low down. See my landscape galleries at:

Gerwyn Gibbs's Photo Galleries at pbase.com

Now comes to hard bit, how to explain the hyperfocal point. For every length of lens at any given aperture there is a point at which everything from a few feet in front of the object to infinity will be in sharp focus. For example with a 12mm lens at f/16 the hyperfocal point will be just 4 feet in front of you, but at 50mm it will be 10. The longer the lens the further away to hyperfocal point is. The same applies to the aperture, f/8 will see the hyperfocal getting further away whilst f/22 will bring it slightly closer to the camera. With every image getting taken at f/16 I know where to look to focus on. A ripple ridge in the sand, or rock sticking out of a pool, just a few feet in front. Doesn't seem right, yet it's mathematically perfect.

Everything you need to know about the hyperfocal point can be found on the link below and explained much easier that I can.

Hyperfocal Distance

I've been lucky enough to have had images published in Digital Photo magazine to illustrate hyperfocal but I'm afraid I'm not very good at putting it into words. If anyone is interested in learning more about taking good landscapes then put in a link to one of my images on pbase and I tell you all the details of the image, including the use of filters.

sparkie1984

Wow!!!!

Thanks PCthug.

I am a newbie and was thinking of creating a thread asking about how to play around with my nikon d5000, which I believe is an ok camera to play around with?

I wonder if it allows me to lay that grid on the screen? anybody know?

I think it is brilliant you take the time to create these threads that people genuinely get good use out of.

Can anybody recommend a good starting program to deal with photos? I am using a mac if it makes any difference?

Just to add: I am going to re-read this thread in a minute, (once I have dug my camera out to play about with )


Sorry me again. I am attempting to play about with shutter speeds but everything is coming out dark, is this due to me having the standard lens? or am I missing something?

senu

@sparkie1984 Why not start a new thread ? I suspect it will be more useful to you than tagging onto this one

Thug

I was gonna suggest the same.

sparkie1984

Sorry guys, didn't want to make a thread to be told to use the beginners one

Thanks for your guides PC

iaincheetham

really The Canon A-1 is an advanced level single-lens reflex (SLR) 35 mm film camera for use with interchangeable lenses.

shotokan101

Jim

senu

It was Historically significant
As such  
It is also   old... the last ones were manufactured in 1987. I owned one in 1983
So.. what is the point of your post???

Thug

I still have 2 of them in the loft.
As well as loads of lenses.
Always fancied the F-1, but never got round to it.